A Blog Post

Tracking Milestones for School Projects

Tracking Milestones For School Projects

by Benjamin Marta

Tracking Milestones To Keep School Projects On Course For Success

Got a big class project due this school year? Feeling intimidated? Feel like you don’t know where to begin. Usually, teachers break big projects up into smaller sections to help keep us on track. What? Oh, they didn’t do that for you this time? Well, don’t fret. We can stay motivated and on schedule when we do something called ‘tracking milestones.’

What are Milestones?

Milestones are major points of development or achievements in a particular process or task. So, for example, let’s say you’re trying to graduate from high school (the process/ task). Passing the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade would all be considered a milestone because each was a major achievement in your process of graduating.

3 Steps To Help Discover, Track, And Complete Your Milestones

Over the years, I‘ve learned, by trial and error, many different tricks which helped get me through projects like these. Below is an easy to follow 3 step list that helped me and can help you too:

Discover Your Milestones

We can discover milestones by breaking the ‘big’ project up into lots of ‘little’ milestones. The more milestones you find, the better, but I recommend at least five within your entire project. These can be anything, ranging from actually starting the project (believe me this can be a huge accomplishment sometimes) to completing a task at the halfway point, so you don’t fall behind or miss a due date.

If the milestones aren’t written out for you, that’s OK too. This just means you have more control over making your project more personal; more you. Use your creativity and make you own! When you’ve decided on a few of them, great! Now, hang on to them, you’ll need them later when you put them on your schedule.

Create A Schedule

Creating a schedule is very important to a project’s success because it helps you visualize what still needs to be completed and when, but it also allows you to see what you’ve accomplished so far—helping to keep you motivated and thinking positive through the rest of the project phases.

While I understand that making a schedule can be kind of, well, boring and time-consuming (I’d rather be playing outside too), in the long run, it can save you a lot of time and reduce the risk of forgetting about project due dates—resulting in an unsuccessful grade.

Don’t worry, making one isn’t too hard. All you have to do is find a calendar (on paper or your computer), write down important due dates and milestones, and you’re good to go! Oh, and don’t forget to check it now and then to see how you’re doing.

Do A Little Bit Every Day

Doing a little bit every day is also a very important part of project success. It helps us to stay on track, focused, positive about our progress, and confident. In her book, Empower Your Girl, Melinda Rae feels similar and states that “daily habits are small constructive and purposeful actions you will take on a daily basis to give you a sense of accomplishment and forward momentum.” So, as long as you have that forward momentum, you’re moving in the right direction.

Finally, when starting a big project, like the one you’re about to start, it’s good to remember one very important item: slow and steady wins the race! Often, when you go too fast or try to do too much in the beginning, you won’t have energy left at the end and possibly even be burnt out. In the G.I.P curriculum, G.I.P founder Melinda Rae uses a metaphor with a similar strategy. Melinda says “a ‘high flame’ is unstable in the long run” and that it’s better to “operate with a low or medium flame.”

What does this metaphor mean? Well, high flames take up a lot of energy, and they burn out quicker. So, if you want to make it to the end, try your best to go at an easy, consistent pace rather than doing everything really quickly. Just keep chugging along, and you’ll make it through, trust me! You’ll do great!